Gun victims remembered one week on

Hundreds brave heavy rain to attend an outdoor church service in Seascale, Cumbria
12 April 2012

The towns and villages shattered by Derrick Bird's murderous rampage have fallen silent under grey skies to remember the gunman's 12 victims.

A week after the taxi driver carried out his massacre in picturesque west Cumbria, thousands of people attended emotional memorial services for those killed.

Mourners shared tears and embraces as they held a minute's silence at midday in honour of the dead at eight ceremonies across the area.

In the town of Whitehaven, taxi drivers sounded their horns for the full 60 seconds to remember colleague Darren Rewcastle, one of Bird's first victims.

Some 20 miles away, the Rev Ann Baker led a service in the tiny hamlet of Boot, just a few hundred yards from where the gunman shot himself as police closed in.

She spoke of the "sense of surrealism" as local people tried to come to terms with the horror that unfolded in their midst last week.

David Cameron confirmed that the Government would look again at Britain's gun laws in the wake of the shootings.

The Association of Chief Police Officers will oversee reviews of why Bird was awarded gun licences, Cumbria Police's armed response to the shootings and police firearms tactics in general.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it would not, at this stage, be investigating Cumbria Police's handling of the shootings.

It was later announced that the Prince of Wales is to visit Whitehaven on Friday.

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